Road-grader.



PATENT-ED DEC. 24, 1907. B. OJSHBRWI'N.

ROAD GRADES. APPLICATION FILED APB..11,190'1.

. 3 SEEETS-SHEM 1.

' PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907) E. 0. SHERWIN.

, ,ROAD GRADER, APPLIOATIQN FILED 423.11,. 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' PATENTED DEC. 24, 1907.

I no. SHERWIN.

ROAD GRADE-R.

APPLICATION FILED APB..11.1907. F

' 3 sfinmvsamfs? animator Z6: 51% era ire pairs erases rn'rnn'r OFFICE.

EDWIN G. SHERWIN, OF BRANDON, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO EDGARTON H. SHERWIN, OF BRANDON, WISCONSIN. I

ROAD-GRADER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 11, 1907- Serial No. 367.622.

racemes Dec. 24,1907.

T0aZZ whom it may concern: Be 1t known that I, EDWIN C. SHEnwIN,

citizen of the United States, residing at Brandon, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Road- Graders, of which the following is a specification.

scrap ng blade is movable or adjustable relatively to the sulky, in which the sulky is kept always in line with the main tongue so as to allow the blade to play up and down freely and ermit either end oi the blade to be raised or lowered inde endently of the other, and'which holds the blade to its work by preventing it from sliding sidewise, for with my improved construction of road grader, none of the weight of the sulky is imposed upon the blade. The blade with its attachments is made heavy enough to do the work, and the.

entire weight of the sulky and operator prevents any slipping of the machine, which avoids that serious fault. with most road graders in the construction of which, in order to get suflicient weight on the blade to make it cut into the ground, a part or all of the weight of the sulky is imposed upon the blade, thereby leaving little or no weight on the wheels, with which to prevent sliding.

' With this and other objects in view as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain constructions, arrangements and combinations of the parts which I shall describe and 'then hereinafter fully claims. a

is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

1Figure l is a rear perspective view of a road grader embodying the improvements of my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one of the quadrants. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view illustrating the detent engagement of a hand lever with a quadrant. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a portion of the plate and its foundation block.

The blade 1 of my improved road grader is preferably formed of steel of the required ength, width and thickness, which is sharpened at its lower edge, said edge being curved forwardly so as to impart to the blade 21 turning edge or surface similar to the plow. This, in. addition to the angle at which the blade is set, keeps the dirt in a continual slidingmovement when the machine is in o oration and prevents all clogging. The bla e 1 is bolted or otherwise secured to a casting, or-foundation block' 3 which is of considerable weight, and which is tapered from its front end towards its rear end, so that the greaterpart of its weight is thrown on that end of the blade which does the digging. 1

The foundation block ,3 is formed with a preferably integral casting 4 which extends at an oblique angle to the foundation block 3, although being located, when the parts are assembled, in the median plane of the ma.- chine. This casting 4 is strongly braced and is formed at its upper edge with a laterally widened seat 5, so as to constitute a supporting bracket for the rear end of the main tongue 6. This tongue is preferably formed of two angle'metal straps 7 to'the horizontally extending portions of which a base plate 8 is riveted, and the rear end of this main tongue is bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the bracket constituted by the casting 4 with its laterally widened seat 5.

The sulky ed grading blade comprises traveling wheels 9 that are .journaled on stub axles 10 and having bearing-gs within depending hangers 1 1'- I qsQGured at their upper ends to the axle 12. point out in the appendedg- T 1 wide steel channelbars seas to'provide a'box For a'full under'standin of the invention i also :to acquire a his axle is constructed of 5 comparatively which may be weightechfif vfoundnecessary, inorderto augmentthe weight of t he driver so as to prevent the mach ne from sliding ,sidewise when thebladeris carrying, a lar e amount of soil. To thebottomjof this a e 12 a tongue 13 is. secured,. said tongue con or riding support for the weightblade, thus leaving little or no weight on the and the blade to allow any amount of soil This is an important feature of my invention sisting of an inverted channel steel strip which is coupled to the main tongue at about the center of the latter by a pivot or bolt 14. l The base of the sullry tongue 13 carries at its rear end the seat spring 15 and said rear end passes through a vertically extending steel arch guide 16, which is bolted or otherwise secured to the base of the main tongue 6. 17 and 1S designate braces, the brace 17 being secured to the sulhy tongue and to the axle 12; and the other brace 18 being secured to the main tongue and to the foundation block 3 near the front end of the latter. 4

The blade and its foundation block are provided with suspension chains it) near the ends, and said chains are in turn connected to the short arms of hell crank hand levers 20 that are fulerumed on quadrants 21 rigidly secured one to the end of the axle 12 and the other to abracliet attached to axle and which are provided with ordinary detents to engage the toothed surface of said quadrants. One of the wheels 9 is located at the rear of the blade and the other in front, and there is ainple room left between this last named wheel that the blade will carry to pass through without clogging. The position of the wheels so balances the machine that there is no undue weightimposed upon the necks of the horses.

By means of the hand levers .20, the blade may be raised or lowered and be adjusted to any position desired.

lirom the foregoing description in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that l have provided a simple, durable and ellicient construction of road grader .in which the sulhy is entirely independent of the blade, that is, there can be none of the weight of the snllty imposed upon the blade.

and one in which the arched guide 16 plays an important part, as the said arch keeps the snllty in line with the main tongue and allows the blade to play up and down freely and permits either end of the blade to be raised or lowered independently of the other, as well as holding the blade to'its work by preventing it from sliding sidcwise. The bladewith its attachments is made heavy enough to do the work, thereby avoiding a serious fault which is incident to most graders of the sullty type, in which, in order to obtain sullicient weight. on the blade to make it cut into the ground, it is necessary to throw part or all of the weight of the sullty upon the wheels with which to prevent sliding. llence when this is done, the machine slides away from its work and nothing is iwcomplishcd. With my invention'this is impossible, as the ent ire weight of tne sullry and operator tends to prevent an sidewise sliding movement and if the weight of the sullry and operator is l l l i l l l not suliicient, the requisite weight may be provided by simply weighting the steel boX which is constituted by the channel iron axle 12.

it is of course understood chine may be used with two, three or four horses, the main tongue being arranged for lengthening at the point, when. more than two horses are used.

lilaving thus described the invention, what is claimed as new s:

1. A road grader comprising a blade, a main tongue from which said blade is directly suspended, a sulliy provided with a tongue having a loose connection with the main tongue, a guide secured to the base of the main tongue and guiding the sulky tongue in relatively vertical movement between the two tongue", and suspension means from the sullry to the blade.

2. A road grader comprising a blade, a main tongue to which the blade is rigidly connected, a sullcy provided with a tongue loosely connected at its front end to the main tongue, the main tongue being provided with a vertically extending arched guide, which embraces. the rear end of the sullry tongue, independently levers fulcrumed on the sulky, and suspension chains connecting said levers with the blade.

3. A road grader comprising a blade adapted to be held in a plane oblique to the length of the machine, or direction in which it is adapted to travel, a foundation block to which said blade is secured, said block acting in a capacity of weight in the blade and being thicker at its front end than at its rear end, whereby to impose a greater amount of its weight on the cutting end of the blade, said foundation block being formed with a rearwardly extending bracket, a main tongue secured at its base to the lJfHUliCli, and a sulky provided with means for raising and lowering the blade and having a relatively vertical movement with the tongue, as and for the purpose set forth.

4. A road grader comprising a blade, a main tongue to which said blade is secured, a sulky provided with a tongue having a loose connection with the main tongue, a guidii'ig connection between the bases of the two tongues, said sulliy including an axle in the form of a box, whereby weights may be disposed in said box, for the purpose specified, and hand levers fulcrumed on the sulliy and having suspension connections with the blade.

5. A' road grader comprisinga blade, a main tongue to the base of which said blade is rigidly connected, said tongue being provided at.its base with an upwardly extending arched guide, a sullt'y comprising traveling wheels located one in the rear and the other in front of the blade and also compris that the man lovable hand f to the main tongue, the rear end of the sulky tongue extending through and snugly fitting the arched guide, independently operable hand levers fulcrunied on the sulky, and suspension chains connecting said hand levers with the blade near the ends of the latter.

6. A road grader comprising a blade, a

- main tongue to which said blade is secured, a

sulky provided with a tongue having a loose connection with the main tongue, a guiding connection between the rear ends of the main tongue and sulky ton ue, levers fulcrumed on the sulky' and flexi le connections between said blade and said levers, and adapted to permit the entire weight of the bled to be imposed upon the ground, independently of the weight of the sulkyv In testimony whereofl affix-my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

EDWIN C. SHERWIN [L. 5.} Witnesses: V GEfiRGE E. TAVS, J-F SoHMoNto 

